It's Not Easy To Find Magic In Pairs
by M4dd15on
Summary: A bit of cute fluff giving more background depth to the complex relationship between Snape and Lily.


**Just starting out here and decided to write a bit of Snape and Lily fluff. I really hope you like it. I took some of the ideas from the original books and just added my own events to show just a little bit deeper the relationship between the two of them. Enjoy and feel free to give me reviews :)**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, nor do I own the "Pete's Dragon" song lyrics in the title of this story. This is for entertainment only!_**

**WARNING! MILD SEXUAL REFERENCE**

Staring out at the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Moors, the wind in his wet, long black hair, Snape couldn't help a single tear tumbling down his face and onto the grubby collar of his shirt. James and Sirius had been taunting him again that day. All he wanted was to study in peace and quiet whilst secretly admiring his beloved Lily across the lake. They wouldn't allow that though.

He was sitting against a tree trunk, pouring over his numerous defence against the dark arts notes, when the weak winter sunlight by which he had been reading was suddenly blocked out by a large shadow. He looked up slowly, dread already rising up in the pit of his stomach. There they were, James Potter and his cronies, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, the Marauders, as they were commonly known, glaring down at him. The familiar smirks were already spreading across their faces. His muscles tensed and he drew his notes closer to his chest, praying that they would leave him alone today. No such luck. James stepped forward, his grin spreading ever wider as he bent down and pressed his face against Snape's.

"What're you doing Snapey? You reading like a good little dork?" he scoffed grabbing Snape's jaw and squeezing his mouth into a ridiculous pout.

From beyond James, the familiar squeak of Peter Pettigrew said, "Watch out Prongs! You might get a disease if you touch that thing. Look at the grease on his face; you could make a fry up using that stuff."

At this, James threw his head back and howled with laughter, the rest loyally joining in. For a moment, they seemed too wrapped in their own stupid jokes to pay Snape much attention and so after looking around for a gap, he made a break for it. He had only got a few metres away though, when they realised their little play thing had disappeared and flew after him with what seemed like lightning speed. Before Snape was able to prepare himself for attack, he was sprawled on the ground, his wand flying from his pocket and his notes skittering rapidly away from him on the wind that was now picking up. When he tried to get up, he found he couldn't, his legs were bound tighter than a boa constrictor squeezes its prey. He writhed and squirmed, trying desperately to protect himself from the inevitable blows that his antagonists were sure to deliver, but they never came. Instead, a feeling of weightlessness swept over him and he was aware that the cold, hard ground was no longer pressed against his cheek. He tried once again to move his legs and found they were suddenly released. He flailed about madly, hissing and snarling for his assailants to let him go. "I haven't done anything to you! What do you want? If it is help with revision for the NEWT mocks you can forget it. You just lost half a year's notes! You people are such wastes of space!"

The anger and embarrassment that Snape felt at that moment was the worst he experienced in many years. The memory of that day still pained him and he could feel the tears welling up once again in his eyes. He tried to fight them back, hoping that they would let him off lightly, but the wind and bitter cold caused the tears to leak out and drop onto the ground below. He sniffed loudly and wiped his face with his arm. This caused more jeering and shouts of, "Poor baby Snapey. Does the greaseball need a tissue? Does he need his Mummy? Wait! His Mummy is dead! Drowned herself didn't she? Can't say I blame her, having a greasy little rat like you for a son! Well don't worry Snapey, you can join her soon. We'll drop you in the lake and you can join your precious Mummy."

They roared with laughter and with a flick of his wrist, James sent Snape flying out into the middle of the lake. He tried to protest, but they started to spin him round, and as he span, he caught a glimpse of Lily, who had been seated with a couple of other girls on the opposite side of the lake. He couldn't help taking a moment to admire how beautiful she looked in her Gryffindor red woollen hat and matching scarf. She seemed to be staring back at him, that familiar look of pity in her eyes, the one she seemed to reserve just for him.

There was a sudden tugging sensation from all the corners of his body, like they were trying to rip his limbs off, followed by a rush of cold air against his bare flesh. He wrapped his arms tightly around himself and found that his robes had been removed and that he was now dangling upside down over the lake in his underwear. He heard James shout up, "Well we thought that if you were gonna go swimming you might as well be suitably dressed. You might want to put your arms above your head though. I wouldn't recommend a penguin dive if I was you. Have a nice dip!"

And with that, his stomach gave a heavy lurch and he plummeted down, hitting the surface of the lake with a loud splash. For several moments Snape's vision went black and when he came to he could see the re-run of that fateful day dancing in front of him in the water. This was followed by a feeling of panic as he realised where he still was. He kicked wildly towards the surface and gasped at the sweet air as his head broke the surface of the water. He splashed about and looked around quickly to see who had witnessed his humiliation. The girls that Lily had been with were gone, as were his antagonists, but Lily still remained. She was holding something in her arms and upon closer inspection he realised it was his uniform. He swam towards the edge of the lake and clumsily scrabbled out. Lily smiled, with that same pitying smile she always smiled when Snape had been hurt. She crouched beside him and said kindly, "You were lucky the squid didn't get you, and if you sit there like that much longer you'll be incredibly lucky if you don't get pneumonia or something."

She shook out Snape's cloak and draped it around his dripping wet body. Snape pulled it round him tightly and shivered. He looked over at the rest of uniform and found with disdain that it was covered in mud. He looked back at Lily and finally dared to make eye contact with her. He had always loved her eyes. They were emerald green and shone with the same magnificence as the sun itself. Her ivory skin was slightly flushed, but the reason was unclear. Maybe it was the fact that that was the closest to naked she had seen him since that day all those years ago.

**

It was late summer, and after an afternoon of quietly watching Lily and Petunia on the swings from his little hideout, Severus decided to walk down to the pond and go swimming. Until that summer he had never known how to, but he had slowly taught himself in the privacy of a small pond in the woods. The sun shone brightly into the clearing where the pond was, so the water was always pleasantly warm. The orphanage couldn't afford whimsical requests such as swim shorts, so he always swam in the nude. This didn't bother him though. He always felt safe in that little clearing. No one was watching him...or so he thought. On that particular afternoon though, Lily seemed to have noticed Severus' presence form his hideout in the bushes, because not long after Severus waded out into the pond and started to swim, there was a crunching of twigs from the direction of the park. Severus turned round, still barely chest deep in water and saw that Lily was standing at the water's edge, staring out at him with a grin on her face. He sunk lower so that only his head showed above the water and she laughed, that sweet, tinkling laughter he loved so much. She beckoned to him and said, "Come on! Show me what you can do."

Severus gingerly lifted his feet off the bottom and leant forward into a near horizontal position. He still couldn't bear to put his face into the water. He began to slowly kick his legs and his arms thrashed at the water in front of him. His progress was slow, but he was proud of his summers' work.

He could float now and swim the 20m from one side of the pond to the other. He would often lay on his back for several moments, floating on the surface of the water, the sun bright on his face.

He eventually reached Lily, who was still smiling at the water's edge. He noticed that she had taken her shoes off and was standing barefoot on the bank. He stood up, smiling proudly at his achievement and for a moment Lily was smiling too, and looking deep into his eyes, when suddenly she turned bright red. It was then that Severus realised that he was still naked. His hands shot to cover himself, but it was too late. Lily whispered quietly, "I've never seen a boy before...you know..." and she blushed a deep crimson. Severus could feel a slight stirring under his hand. Even though he was still a couple of years off puberty and his equipment was still quite small, every now and then when he was around Lily he would feel a faint stirring down there and a small lump would appear in his trousers. Embarrassed, Severus quickly dived for clothes and ran from the clearing to get dressed in peace.

The real embarrassment though, didn't start till the following day. Petunia and Lily were already at the park when Severus walked past to go into the woods, when a high-pitched, jeering, sing-song voice rang out behind him. "Lily told me about yesterday. She said she saw you without any clothes on. If I tell then everyone will laugh and no one will ever talk to you again, cos you're a dirty little boy, stripping in the woods for girls."

For a moment, Severus glared at Lily, his face hot with embarrassment and anger that she had betrayed his trust. With tears welling in his eyes, he spat, "It wasn't like that! Lily you're horrible! I never want to talk to you again!" and he ran to sit on his own by the pond. He sat there for many hours, crying and angrily throwing stones into the water. After a while the anger subsided and he just sat there and let the afternoon sun bathe his face. A hand suddenly rested tenderly on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and found him looking up into the green eyes of Lily. She sat down beside him and put her head on his shoulder. He was still a little angry with her, but at the same time he couldn't bear to shrug her off. "I'm sorry I told." She said softly. "I hope we can stay friends. I really like you Sev."

**

Severus dressed in silence, a look of disgust on his face as he was forced to drag on his muddy robes. Lily watched quietly, keeping a respectful distance. When he had finished dressing, Snape turned to look at Lily. She was fiddling with the tassels on her scarf. "Thanks for staying, Lily. You didn't have to do that." grumbled Snape under his breath. Lily took a step closer and slipped her arm round Snape's. "I'm sorry I didn't do anything more. I hate him sometimes. He is such a jerk." Lily went in to hug him tighter, but Snape stiffened and moved away a little. "If he's such a jerk then why are you with him?"

Lily was silent for a second before saying slowly, "It's not that simple Sev. I think I love him...Sev? I know you find it hard to understand. I hope we can still be friends. I really like you Sev." And with that she leant in and planted a tender kiss on his cheek before quickly departing for the castle.

**

Unable to face anyone else, Snape strolled across the grounds to stare out the Yorkshire Moors. The view reminded him of his childhood. As that single tear rolled down Snape's face and onto his collar, he could not help feeling sorry for himself. It was at that moment that he realised that Lily would never be his.


End file.
